The Chronicles
by heart2handgun
Summary: Five years after NYC's biggest drug bust, the newer Wilder Gang is back for revenge. While being held hostage, Anjuli Flack reminisces on life as a member of the NYPD. FlackOC/DL/Smacked
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N:**__ I know I shouldn't be starting a new story seeing as though I've totally slacked on updates for my other stories, but ideas come to mind and I can't seem to get rid of them and don't want to lose them. This one will be a lot of flash-forwards and modern-day. Some flashbacks thrown in the mix as well. The title is _The Chronicles_, and every chapter will have another title before the date. _

_Also, I know the song choice is about a relationship, but the parts I used, I felt could attribute to the second portion of this chapter._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own CSI:NY or any of their characters. I do however my story idea, Anjuli Elisabeth Allegra Fallon, members of the Fallon family, and anyone or anything you do not recognize. Trust me, you won't get anything out of suing me. Maybe just a whole lot of debt and Smart Water. _

_**The Chronicles.**_

**xXx**

_Would I know this hurt  
Would I feel this pain  
Do you know that with all I have left  
I__n my very last breath I will call your name_

_Were you sad  
Were you scared  
Did you wish for a prayer to be free  
Was it quiet and cold  
Was it light or too dark to see  
__And did you reach for me_

_Joey _-- Sugarland

**xXx**

_**The Chronicles Of Fear.**_

_May 12th__ 2012._

Adjusting the platinum bridal set on her left ring finger, thirty-three year old Detective Anjuli Fallon -- the name she used only at work, rather than there being two Detective Flacks in the ranks -- entered the bullpen. Standing at five foot six, she tried to look over and around the officers and detectives crowding the room.

Dressed in khaki colored cargo pants, a simple dark brown t-shirt and matching brown sneakers, Jules rested on her tippy-toes as she tried to get a better view into the room. A hand landed on the small of her back, almost causing her to lose her balance.

Glancing over her shoulder, she offered Detective John Scagnetti a smile before resting her feet flat on the floor. "What's up, Scags?" she offered, using her nickname for the burly homicide detective.

"Well, I do work here, Jules," he replied, causing the petite blonde to stick her tongue out at the taller brunette. "Just got back from the field with Messer. The suspect in this case we're workin' on is a total wackadoo."

The statement caused a giggle to fumble out of Jules' mouth. "You've been hangin' around Donnie way too much," she said, and glanced back in the direction of Flack's desk, however, the bullpen was extremely busy, causing traffic between her and the desk and leaving her with no real view of the area.

He shrugged. "Last I saw him, he was gettin' some coffee."

"No matter how hot it is outside, all that man drinks is coffee," she added with a laugh. She then nodded and bit the inside of her lip. "And when was that?"

"'Bout five minutes ago, I'd say." Again, she nodded and smiled up at John.

Wrapping an arm around his large bicep, she tucked her bangs behind her ear. "Thanks, pumpkin." The homicide detective nodded and rolled his eyes before heading towards his desk, close to Flack's, but not as close as they used to be.

Using her small frame to her advantage, Anjuli slipped past the other detectives in the bullpen and headed towards Don's desk. He wasn't in his chair, hunched over paperwork like he usually was around this time. As it neared seven o'clock at night, she knew he was beginning to pack up to head home. Since her shift started at eleven fifteen- she came in as an extra to help out - she had at least another hour before she could even contemplate leaving for the night.

The office chair in front of the desk was unoccupied, so after glancing at the clock on his desk, she took a seat to wait for him. She knew the moment she began looking at the paperwork that littered his desk - he claimed it was an organized mess and he knew where to find everything - a member of the brass would walk in and she would get reamed out for reading files on a case she wasn't working on.

Her eyes drifted from his computer, where a recent photo of their six-month-old daughter was the wallpaper. Arianna Elisabeth Flack was born on November 11th 2011, ironically enough 11-11-11, and already had her daddy wrapped around her pinky finger. The photo was one of her and her "boyfriend", though Don hated the title given to eight-month-old Tristan Anthony Messer. Due to the closeness in age, and the tight friendships between their parents, once Arianna entered the world, the two were barely separated. At one point, they even napped together in the same bassinet, and unbeknownst to them - but watched over by their fathers, mostly Flack - the two fell asleep holding hands.

The photo was one of the baby brunette in a New York Rangers cheerleader outfit, complete with a red and blue barrette in her medium shade of brown hair. To the left were two framed photos, one of their wedding day, and one of the day Arianna was born.

The wedding photo on his desk was his favorite. Though it was two and a half years old, the style in the photo was still seen on the streets. In their formal wear, Jules in her wedding gown, Don in his dress blues, both donned pairs of aviator sunglasses and huge smiles. It was evident, due to the height difference, that Jules had already shed her heels - later in the day she opted for white Old Navy flip flops. Flack had both arms wrapped around his new wife, as Jules had one arm resting on Don's forearm, with her hand slightly squeezing his bicep and the other hand placed on the side of his cheek, her bridal set shimmering in the light. The photographer had taken the photo without either of the two noticing, mainly because Don was whispering sweet nothings into Jules' ear.

The second framed picture was of Anjuli resting in her hospital bed with Don sitting next to her holding a three hour old Arianna Elisabeth. Flack had the baby in one arm, with his other wrapped around his wife, who had her head rested on his chest, a weary smile on her face. Don was beaming.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" The voice, a deep baritone she had grown accustomed to, brought her out of her reverie. Jules turned to the left to see her husband standing next to his desk, a cup of coffee in one hand and the other rested on the edge of his desk.

She pursed her lips together as he slid to a resting stance against his desk to face his wife. "I thought I'd stop by to see you for a few. I have to head back out into the field, and since you get off the clock very shortly, I figured we could get a few minutes together."

Running a hand over the side of her face, he smirked in her direction. "So does this mean I won't have both of my girls home tonight?" She nodded. "Well, I could always just put Arianna to bed and call up my other girlfriend."

"Don't forget I know how to hide bodies where no one will ever find them," she stated, a matching smirk crossing her face. "And if they do find it, they'll never be able to link it back to me."

"In that case, give me a call on your way home. I can get her out the door before you make it back to the house."

She placed her hand discretely on his thigh closest to her and pinched him through his black dress pants. "Wise ass." He smiled and shrugged. "I thought your other girl kept you up too late last night. I figured you'd want your beauty sleep."

He rested his hand on the back of his neck and ran his fingers over the chain he always wore. "For your information, I was teaching her the finer points of the Rangers defense." Jules just nodded. Hockey was one thing that brought them together.

Growing up with three older brothers, though at times it seemed like five total when the Flack boys were around, Jules was on skates by the time she could walk. Being born in the midst of the 1979 Stanley Cup hunt for the New York Rangers -who went on to sadly lose to the Montreal Canadiens - and to a family of hockey fans, minus her mother, it was destiny that she would both enjoy and play the sport.

Her mother, Abigail Fallon, was outnumbered on hockey nights. While she tried to transform her only daughter into a girly-girl with dresses and barrettes and headbands, and the likes, her father tried to turn his daddy's girl into a well-known hockey star. He later got his wish when she moved to New Hampshire to attend the University of New Hampshire, and went on to win the National Championship her freshman year.

"So instead of singing a lullaby like you did the other night, you brought her out to watch hockey." She paused for a moment to contemplate her husband. "Very thoughtful of you, Donnie."

"Shh," he hushed and placed a finger over his lips. "Don't let it out that I sing to my daughter. I do have a reputation to uphold, ya know." The blonde rolled her eyes. Changing the topic, he offered her a wink. "What time do you think you'll get in tonight?

She shrugged and let her shoulders sag following the gesture. "Who knows? This case is being a major pain in my ass. AFIS is being absolutely useless for trying to match the partial we got at the scene on our vic's earring. I just," she paused and sighed, "I don't know. We'll have to play it by ear tonight. This could very easily turn into a double."

Jules tossed her hair into a messy bun in the center of her head and leant back in the chair. She turned the chair just enough to place a leg to either side of one of Don's. "Call me when you get out. The second you clock out, call me."

She smiled. "It'll probably be late, and you have the early shift tomorrow morning."

"I'm a big boy, Anj. Any luck, Arianna will probably get up at the same time."

Reaching into a pocket of her cargo pants, Anjuli withdrew a set of keys and placed them in her lap. "I'll wake you up when I get home. Sound good?"

Slowly, he nodded, hating that he was giving in to her. Only a few times since they began dating in high school would he admit that she was right, or let something she did slip. There were times it happened, but he would never admit it. As she stood from the chair, she locked blue eyes with blue eyes and smiled. Genuinely smiled. "Be careful, Anj."

"Always." Quickly, Flack placed a tender kiss to her forehead. For the last nine years of working together, the brass or IAB had only caught them a handful of times for showing affection while on the job. An NYPD event or fundraiser was one thing, due to being off the clock, but at work it was a completely different ballpark. "I love you, Donnie."

"Love you too, Jules." With a hand to her waist, he ran his hand up and down a small portion of her side before letting her begin to step away from him. "I'll see you when you get home."

She nodded and slipped in between the row of desks taking up residence in the bullpen. The blonde tucked her head down as she began to walk away from her husband. Halfway out of the room, she saw Scagnetti sitting at his desk, on the phone, and knowing the detective as well as she did, she figured he was more than likely going to start yelling at whoever was on the other end of the line. Instead of heading over to him, she offered a quick wave, to which he responded with a slight smile.

With her keys in one hand, she headed out of the bullpen, and towards the elevators. Once inside, she double checked to make sure her piece was strapped to her waist next to her badge. As the doors chimed open in the garage, Jules headed over to the Chevy Avalanche she had signed out to go back into the field to look for any evidence left at the scene.

Clicking off the alarm, she opened the door and slipped inside. Once the vehicle was turned on and the air conditioner was kicking on, she rested her head back against the head rest. She ran her fingers over the necklace hanging from her neck.

With their hectic schedules, Don had made dinner for Jules the night before for Mother's Day. Though it was on the thirteenth, he wanted to make sure she got the present he bought her for her first Mother's Day. A simple circular silver pendant hung around her neck on a matching silver chain. Her daughter's name was engraved on the back, and on the front was a copy of Arianna's fingerprint.

Flack had known the moment he saw an ad for the designer while checking his e-mail one day that his wife would absolutely love it. The piece of jewelry captured one of the only things about his daughter that would never change.

She flicked through the channels on the radio before giving up, due to nothing worth interest playing on any of her usual channels, and decided on one that was playing Top 40 hits.

Pulling out of the parking garage, she called her mother-in-law to let her know that Don would be by to pick up the baby as soon as he got out. They chatted briefly about what Arianna did during the day, most of the things Caroline Flack said brought a smile to Jules' face.

As that phone call came to an end- with a wish of an early Happy Mother's Day- the blonde followed it up with a phone call to her own parents. Mainly, it was to waste time in her drive, but to confirm their plans for the next day. Two of her older brothers, Patrick and Brendan, were planning to bring their children to their childhood home for a late lunch. Since it was her day off the next day, she had also planned ahead to bring Arianna to visit the baby's grandparents while Don was at work.

Pulling up to the crime scene, she noted that the uniformed officer she asked to be at the scene had yet to arrive. Glancing to the clock on the dashboard, she checked over her shoulder to see if the police car was anywhere near the scene. However, it wasn't.

Against better judgment, Jules stepped out of the vehicle. She slipped her keys in her pocket and flicked on her flashlight as she headed towards where the body of Courtney Shailor was found just hours before. She tugged a latex glove on her right hand to comb more thoroughly through the grass for anything that could have been missed when the two women were called out to the scene around eleven A.M.

Anjuli crouched down by the final resting place of Courtney's body and bit her lip. They had nothing. All that was recovered from the scene was the body, her purse-with a full wallet, and enough cash in there to make both Anjuli and Lindsay jealous- and a single partial fingerprint on the donut shaped earring hanging from the 24 year old brunette's left ear.

"Someone just give me a sign," she sighed. Watching the area in front of her, Jules closed her vibrant blue eyes. "Anything."

"How 'bout this?" was all she heard before being hit in the back of the head with the butt of a gun. She collapsed forward on her knees, feeling a sight sensation run through her left knee, the result of an injury to the area while playing hockey growing up. A hard body check into the boards during her sophomore year not only ended her season, but career. It took three years for her to truly regain balance on skates, and didn't think she was back up to her playing standards from her freshman year.

The injury was an miracle in disguise for her though. It led her to buckling down and furthering her education.

Reaching back on her right side, she found only an empty holster. "Lookin' for something, girlie?" the man behind her taunted. She could tell he had a slight Irish lilt, but nothing else about the man really stuck out to her. When she turned her head even more, she came eye to eye with an elaborate Celtic cross on his forearm. Almost like the one her husband sported on his shoulder blade, she thought.

Nibbling on her lower lip, a nervous habit she lived her entire life with, she slid her left hand into the pocket of her cargo pants closest to her knee. With her hand around the set of keys- since they were only department keys they consisted of only one key, the one for the vehicle they were registered for the day, though some people, like Jules, hooked their office keys on there as well- she used the dark to her advantage.

She set the keys up in her hand and in one swift motion tried her best to stab her attacker. The only problem was she couldn't get enough momentum, causing the keys to stop at the jeans the man was wearing. He only laughed when she tried again. Giving up, she placed the keys on the ground, and covered them with her hand.

Within seconds, her hand was crushed between her attacker's boot and the keys, causing a scream to erupt from her mouth. Another agonizing cry was released as she tried to cradle her injured hand to her chest. "What do you want?" she asked through tears.

Again, he laughed, and was soon joined by another man. Noting the danger she was truly in, she hunched her body over enough to grab her cell phone from her pocket with the cover of darkness. Luckily for her, the lights from the bridge did not provide a lot of light in the area she was in.

She pulled the device out of her pocket and pressed the green button for send twice, causing it to redial the last number registered on her phone. Don. She had called him shortly after confirming plans for the next day with her mother. _Yeah, if I make it to tomorrow. _

Running her fingers over the top buttons on the right side of her Blackberry, she turned the incoming volume down so no one would hear if Don answered the phone or not. Thanking her lucky stars for having her keep the back light on the phone for the shortest amount of time possible, she waited for it to turn off before laying it back down on the grass beneath her. Just hoping and praying that Flack could hear what was going on.

"What do you want?!" she screamed.

"You're comin' with us, girlie."

She shook her head, causing strands of her blonde hair to fall out of the messy bun she put her hair in before leaving the precinct. "Not without you telling me what you want."

"What are you goin' to do? You have no weapon," he stated, causing her to emit a sigh. If only she could get something out of them for Don to hear. Just a voice and an accent more than likely wouldn't be enough for him to get a lead on.

Licking her suddenly dry lips, she fought to contain composure. She tried to figure out the best way to get away from the two men with only one good hand. Though her knee would be well enough to run on, she didn't exactly want to try that theory out unless she had a concrete plan. "Can you just answer one question for me?" She looked over her shoulder once more and let out a deep breath. "What do you want with _me_?"

A cynical laugh escaped the man's lips. "When we killed that stupid Shailor bitch, we kept hoping _you_ would get this scene." Turning to his partner, he shrugged. "I guess we lucked out."

"What do you need me for?" she asked, totally confused as to what they were talking about.

"She's playing the stupid blonde card, Seany," the first man stated to the shorter attacker to his left. "You're the darling wife of a Detective Don Flack Junior, right?" Slowly, she nodded. Her eyes fell upon the simple silver band on her right ring finger that was graced with a small princess cut aquamarine, her birthstone. Don had given it to her on her first birthday, March 17th, since returning to New York. Noting the slightly sharp edges on the stone, she knew what she had to do.

The second attacker, Sean's, voice cut through her thoughts. "He put us out of business five years ago." It all made sense to her now. Though she wasn't in New York City at the time, she heard all about the bust of the Wilder Gang. Don had left several voicemails on her cell phone telling her about the bust, and then everything that happened when the scene was hi-jacked and the fake gas leak at the lab. She couldn't return them until she got out of court for the day. Anjuli's last case while working with the Concord Crime Lab in New Hampshire was one of a man who killed his wife's two children, his step-daughters. It had happened years earlier, but he was set for another trial when new evidence was found.

"And that has to do with me how? I wasn't in the state at the time," she stated, conviction in her voice, hoping Don was still on the line.

Sean nodded. "Maybe not. But you were dating Detective Flack. You have since married him."

"And had his child. Can't forget about that beautiful baby girl, Seany." At the mention of her daughter, Jules' eyes flashed with fury.

"Keep her out of this," Jules warned.

Another laugh escaped the taller, and yet-to-be-named, attacker. "We don't hurt children. Don't worry about that, girlie." Jules swallowed the lump in her throat as she used her good hand to slip her bangs behind her ear. Her fist clenched when he stroked the side of her face, a sick smile crossing his features. "Just her mommy."

Jules turned her head to the side and out of his touch, causing him to become even more angry. "What do you need me to do? Give up on this case? Say I couldn't find any evidence linking you to killing Courtney Shailor. That's fine. I'll do it! I'll do anything!" she shrieked. "It'll be like she never existed! I swear!"

"That's not what we want." He smirked and shook his head. "Detective Flack took something away from us. It's time to take something away from him."

Anjuli could feel the tears pooling in her eyes, and bit her lip hard enough to stop them. Growing up around boys, she learned when angry, her tears didn't always work. And she didn't want to try right now. Pushing all logical thoughts to the side, she began to stand from her position on the ground. "What do you think you're doin', girlie?" Sean asked, his accent on full display. "Did we say you could get up?"

He placed a hand to her forehead and pushed her back towards the ground. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she tried again, this time standing straight up in front of the two men. From where she stood, she could tell Sean was around 5'11" while the other clocked in close to 6'4. "Please," she begged. The tears threatened again. "Please, just.. just let me go."

The taller one pursed his lips and shook his head. "You're gonna come with us, girlie."

Glancing between the two, and then to the street behind them, she bit on the inside of her lip before landing a punch square to the jaw of Sean. The second her right hand - and her ring's prongs - collided with his skin, blood began to seep from the wound. Balancing herself on her slightly injured knee, she tried to kick the taller of the two, only to get her ankle caught in his grasp.

She struggled to get out of it, using her good hand to try to fend the man off. Instead of giving in, he grabbed the petite blonde and threw her over his shoulder.

Catching a glimpse of her birthday ring, she noticed blood collecting in the grooves. She struggled to use her injured fingers to remove the jewelry, before letting it fall to the ground.

Hoping and praying that whenever her husband or the uni assigned to the scene arrived they would notice the clues she tried to leave them. Her cell phone, car keys, right hand ring and flashlight were all that she could leave for them. As well as the blood of one of her attackers.

Sean, with blood trickling down his throat, slid the backdoor to their awaiting van open to allow his partner to throw Anjuli inside. The bloodied man stepped in the back with her and awaited the taller one.

Anjuli noticed a third man in the driver's seat. Red hair crawled out from underneath the baseball cap he had on his head, and his eyes were glued to the road in front of him. "We're good, Devin. Let's go," said the only attacker whose name had not be announced yet. Chuckling to herself, she remembered back to a lapse in her relationship with Flack, when he dated Devon Maxford.

With her two main attackers in the backseat with her, she turned to look out the two back windows. Red and blue lights were seen coming down the street, sirens blazing. In a swift motion, her right elbow met Sean in the face, hitting him square in the nose. She followed suit with a left elbow to the man on the opposite side.

The moves only allowed a few seconds, but she jumped at the opportunity. She had hoped that whoever was arriving at the scene would notice the dark minivan driving sporadically down the street due to Anjuli trying to take over the wheel.

Saying a quick prayer, she tried to overpower Devin behind the wheel. When she couldn't take over, she bit down on his ear, causing him to lose grip of the steering wheel to tend to his sore body part. Taking a deep breath, she used both hands, though pain tore through her left arm at the use of the injured limbs, to try to steer the vehicle into a telephone post on the side of the street.

The last thing Anjuli saw was the car turning slowly but surely back to head straight down the street. When the butt of the gun that first knocked her down earlier came in contact with the same spot again, things began to go black.


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**__ This is a present day chapter. Well, sort of. Present in the fact that it's 2009. Just not May. In this, I changed the date of when Baby Messer was born, which will be May 6th__, 2010 rather than '09. Jules' looks are based off of Julianne Hough. The 3/17/09 Rangers/Canadiens game was actually in Montreal, but we're changing that to NYC. _

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own CSI:NY or any of their characters. I do however my story idea, Anjuli Elisabeth Allegra Fallon, members of the Fallon family, and anyone or anything you do not recognize. _

_**Thank You's**__: Mainly to BEG. Thanks for always being there to bounce ideas off of, mainly for this chapter. Always there for some good Carolina Hurricanes bashing, brainstorming, and Ryan Buell gossip __J__ . A special thanks to the other reviewers: babygurl1944 and knightlight86. _

_**The Chronicles.**_

**xXx**

_I'm lucky I'm in love with my best friend  
Lucky to have been where I have been  
Lucky to be coming home again  
Lucky we're in love every way  
Lucky to have stayed where we have stayed_

_Lucky - _Jason Mraz featuring Colbie Callait

**xXx**

_**The Chronicles of Goals.**_

_March 17__th__, 2009_

"There's my birthday girl!" The voice echoed off of the glass walls of the thirty-fifth floor. A permanent smile was etched across Anjuli's lips as she stepped off of the elevator into her best friend's arms.

Lindsay Monroe slipped into Jules' life when the platinum blonde needed someone the most. Since arriving at the Crime Lab in 2003, things between her and Aiden Burn started the moment they met outside of Mac Taylor's office on their first day.

For lack of better words, the two hit it off. Jules already knew, and was dating, Flack, who brought his best friend, Danny Messer, into the fold. On any given night, the group could be found at Sullivan's, tossing back shots and beers like no one's business. There were even a few nights that Aiden and Jules would be seen on the bar singing to the jukebox.

When Aiden was killed at the hands of D.J. Pratt in May 2006, everything hit Anjuli at once. Even after the brunette was fired from the lab, they remained close. Friday nights were blocked off for a night out, either at Sully's or out to dinner. On occasion, they would be spotted maxing out credit cards on Fifth Avenue or at a salon having a "girls day".

Those in the team thought Danny took it the hardest. Jules, however, knew how to mask her emotions with a smile while clocked in. Once she was clocked out, life was a completely different story.

Three days after Aiden's death, and after the funeral, Jules locked herself in her apartment. Flack, being only three floors beneath her in the same apartment building, could not get through to her. Mac and Stella had yet to figure out how to deal with the blonde. Danny was too busy grieving on his own.

So that left the Bozeman native. While she had only known Anjuli for a few months, she felt the undying need to help the younger woman.

The following week, as Anjuli slowly crawled out of her shell and returned to work, Flack was caught in the middle of Dean Lessing's "demonstration", her life slowly seeped back into the darkness.

However, Lindsay Monroe took the reigns again, and became the only person who could coax the youngest member of the team to leave Flack's bedside, even if just for a few moments to get fresh air or something to eat or drink.

When Flack finally woke up, it was to his girlfriend's sleeping form. She sat in the chair next to the bed, with her head and shoulders resting on the mattress and her hand fixed inside of his. Lindsay had been the first call Anjuli made after spending a few minutes with the only man in her love life - ever.

Jules just beamed as she received hugs from her co-workers. Glancing over Jessica Angell, her second best friend's, shoulder, she saw balloons and decorations littering the break room.

Lindsay knew the smile on her friend's face wasn't just because it was her birthday. The honey blonde knew Flack's plan for the morning; breakfast in bed, and then some personal time for the two before they had to be at work. With a simple reminder that they had tickets for the New York Rangers game later that night.

In Lindsay's mind, Jules could never keep a straight face after a nice night - or morning - with her boyfriend. It was one of those small tidbits she learned about the platinum blonde over the two years they had known each other. If anyone said a thing to Jules about her sexual relationship with Flack, especially early in the morning, she would usually turn into a blushing school girl. That was until a witty comeback was spewed from her mouth.

With birthday wishes directed at the youngest team member, she caught a sight of Stella and Mac in the boss' office. A twinkle in her eye, a jump in her step, and her best friends on either arm, though Lindsay had to fight with Jules' purse, which Danny nicknamed "the monstrosity" due to its size and contents, the three headed towards Mac's office. Stella sat against the side of his desk as the former Marine relaxed in his leather chair.

Jules rapped her knuckles across the door, her smile still fully intact. She pulled the door open, and stuck her head in. "Happy Birthday, Mac!" she offered, followed by the two women with her.

"You too, Jules. Don't work yourself too hard today."

She chuckled and nodded. "No promises."

He smirked. "Just make sure you're out of here on time tonight. There's a detective downstairs who plans to take you to a hockey game for your birthday."

If possible, it seemed as if her smile widened. "Ain't I just a lucky girl?" the blonde with the vibrant blue eyes asked. Mac shooed the three girls from his office, all knowing exactly what they had to do for the day.

As they came to a stop outside of Lindsay and Jules' office, Jess gave each a hug and kisses to the cheek before bidding them adieu. Once inside the office, Jules placed her purse on the floor next to the office chair, and laid her eyes on the wrapped package on her desk.

Glancing up to her best friend, Lindsay couldn't keep the smile off of her face. "Linds, we went out on a girls day this weekend. You didn't have to do anything else."

"Nah," the country girl started with a shrug, "I didn't _have _to. I wanted to buy tickets for a game coming up, for me, you and Jessie, but I didn't really want to copy Flack," she explained.

With a raised eyebrow, Jules took the package, wrapped in metallic silver paper, which seemed totally impossible to open due to the large amount of tape on it, into her hands. "Can I shake it? Or is it an animal that I could possibly kill?"

Lindsay laughed. "Were you one of those kids that shook all their Christmas presents, until their parents finally admitted to buying them a pet?"

Innocently, she nodded. "Sort of." Montana's eyebrow raised into a perfect quizzical expression. "Took me three Christmases to get my first dog. Like _my own_ dog. One that I didn't have to share with my brothers." Smiling to herself, she settled against her desk, holding the present between her hand and hip. "All the three of them wanted were boxers and pit bulls and the like. I just wanted a rescue dog. Specifically a retired NYPD dog."

"Did you get one?" Lindsay asked.

Jules shook her head. "I got a Shih-Tzu instead. Loved the dog, though. Caesar was my best friend growing up. With the exception of Donnie," she quickly added.

"C'mon, Jules! Open it!"

The blonde only smirked. "It's not another trip to Vegas, is it? 'Cause I got in a lot of trouble last time," Jules stated, biting on her lower lip.

"Nope. This," she said and pointed to the box, "Should keep you out of trouble with Detective Flack."

Jules offered a simple smile. The task of opening the gift, however was looking to be daunting. Lindsay had an affinity for wrapping presents in the toughest paper, with tons of clear plastic tape. And bows and ribbon.

Pulling her keys from her pocket, she began to slide a key between the paper and tape. Until Lindsay stole them from her. "Cheater!"

A few minutes later, when she finally made it through the layer of tape surrounding almost the entire box, she slid out a plain white box. "Linds, it's gorgeous. It's the most beautiful white box you've ever given me!" she gushed, a playful smile gracing her features. "My God, child, did you use enough fucking tape?" asked Jules.

Frustrated with the ungodly amount of tape even on the box, she continued to fight through with her nails - which she had gotten done over the weekend while out with Lindsay and Jess - to finally rid the box of the tape.

"You're a pain in my ass sometimes, Monroe."

"Sometimes?" came a voice from the open doorway? "More like eighty-five percent of the time," Danny Messer stated as he entered the room. "But we love her, right?"

Danny placed a hand to the small of Lindsay's back, enough to prove he was there, but little to not get in trouble for furthering a relationship while working. "Most of the time," Jules added, a laugh in her voice. "Except for when she buys stock in transparent tape!" Lindsay just blushed and urged her friend to continue opening the present with her hands.

Once finally open, Jules placed the box on her desk, and pulled out a New York Rangers sweatshirt, heather gray with navy blue writing, directly from the Alyssa Milano line. "You can't say I never listen to you!"

"Linds, you totally didn't have to do this!" Sliding the zip up hoodie on top of the box, she pulled her best friend into a tight hug. With a kiss to the cheek, she beamed. "It's not exactly the cheapest Rangers sweatshirt. Do you ever wonder why I always beg Donnie to buy it for me?" she asked, pink tint creeping into her cheeks.

"There's more," Lindsay stated, before being pinched in the side by Danny. "And it's all from the two of us. Danny can make up nicknames for people, but he can't for the life of him shop for birthday presents."

Reaching under the paper tissue left in the box, her fingertips fell over hockey jersey. "Nuh uh!" she exclaimed. "I thought by more, you meant just more tissue paper." For the comment, Lindsay whacked her on the arm.

Jules pulled out a blue jersey, with the Rangers logo on the front and complete with red and white stripes on the bottom and on either sleeve. "It's the right player, right?" Lindsay asked, all while secretly crossing her fingers. When making the purchase online, she couldn't remember if her best friend was the 'world's biggest fan' - Jules' exact words while talking about the player, of number seventeen or twenty-four. Things wouldn't have been so tough if Jules hadn't talked about the Rangers like a sports analyst, mainly between the two players.

Anjuli ran her manicured fingers over the number twenty-four on the sleeve and just beamed. When she held the jersey out to take it the last name 'Callahan' on the back, she placed it on her desk and hugged Lindsay again. "It's perfect. Thank you so much, Linds."

"And I just get shoved to the side," Danny said, before receiving a slap to the back of his head, from the blonde while she was still hugging his fiancée.

"Wise ass." When the two women separated, Jules gave the Staten Island native a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Happy?" He grinned and nodded. "Good. Now go do some work," she said, her smile bright on her lips.

Danny nodded and offered his fiancée a smile and a nod before leaving the office she shared with her best friend, who also happened the be his best friend's girlfriend.

"I'm gonna go put these in my locker," she said as she gathered the sweatshirt and jersey on one arm and picked up her purse with the other. "Thank you, again, Linds. I was totally content with wearing my practice jersey tonight," she added with a laugh. "I love them. Almost as much as I love you."

Lindsay pulled the younger blonde into her arms again. "Love you too, Ju-Ju," the Bozeman native replied, using her nickname for the Queens native. When the two first got close, Lindsay suggested making nicknames for each other. Jules, however, blew it off as a 'country thing' and went along with the idea to make her new friend happy. However, two years later, the nicknames were still in circulation.

"Lanney, if anyone's looking for me, I just went to the locker rooms." Lindsay nodded. 'Lanney' came mainly from Lindsay's middle name, Anne, with the first and last letter of her first name finishing it off.

xXx

"I am never eating that much, ever again!" Jules decided as she leaned back in the stool she was seated on in the break room. In front of her on the table was a half eaten second piece of birthday cake. She placed a hand to her stomach and let out a deep breath. "I'm stuffed."

"Happy Birthday, babe," Don whispered in her ear before placing a kiss to her temple. "And Mac, happy birthday to you, too." He offered the older man his hand.

With a smile, Mac shook Flack's hand. "Thanks, Don. And thanks for buying lunch, everyone."

There were nods in every direction of the break room. Mac slipped away from the table to toss out his trash before leaving the room. All eyes moved from Mac's form heading towards his office to the curly-headed brunette sitting next to his empty seat. "Stel, we all know something's goin' on. So just follow him." The Greek woman opened her mouth to protest, but Jules shook her head. "You two are terrible at hiding whatever it is that's going on between you two."

"And before you ask, we're happy for you," Lindsay added.

A wicked smile crossed Jules' face as she picked up her fork. "Just so you know, yeah, you'll have to have the 'talk' as well. If the four of us had to go through it, so do you," she said, pointing her fork at the older woman.

Stella just smiled and rolled her eyes before leaving the break room. "I, uh, have some, uh, stuff to do, y'know, in AV," Adam rambled off from his spot across from Anjuli. They had pulled two round tables together so everyone could eat together. Jules offered the tech a smile. "Happy Birthday, Jules."

"Thanks, Adam. I'll be in to join you in a few to go over those tapes," she added. He smirked and waved to the group before exiting. "And then there were six," the blonde said, referring to herself, Flack, Lindsay, Danny, Hawkes and Angell still being in the break room.

A chirping sound came from the cell phone in Flack's pocket. After checking the new text message he received, he kissed his girlfriend's head again before standing up from his chair. "Scagnetti got a location on our perp."

"A current location this time?"

Flack just smirked. "Yeah, Anj. A current location." He placed a hand to either shoulder and kissed the top of her head. "I'll see you downstairs at 5:30, right?"

"On the dot," she responded. "I love you."

"I love you too, Anj," offered the detective. "Comin' Jess?" The female detective in question nodded before standing up.

After a hug and a kiss to the cheek, she whispered in Jules' ear, "And believe me, I want all the details tomorrow."

"Sounds good. Thanks for my necklace, Jessie." Angell just nodded and smiled before following Flack out of the break room. At the mention, Jules ran her fingers over the sterling silver Celtic knot, with a simple aquamarine stone in the center and shamrocks at each edge. "Well, I should probably go meet up with Adam in AV. Can't leave him alone with his machines for too long," she added with a laugh.

After cleaning most of the trash away, she covered up what was left over and slipped it into the refrigerator. She waved to Hawkes, Lindsay and Danny before following the path Adam took from the break room to the AV Lab.

xXx

"Nice jersey, detective," Flack commented as Anjuli arrived at his desk.

"A birthday present from my best friend," she responded, a smile crossing her face. "Let's go, Donnie. We have to run home first."

He just placed a hand to each of her arms and smiled. "I know, babe. Chill out."

She pursed her lips together and locked vibrant blue eyes on sea blue eyes. "Baby, I'm excited!"

Shaking his head at his girlfriend's behavior, he waited a moment for his computer screen to go black before tossing the remaining files in his drawer. After locking the compartment, he grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and slipped it on. "Ready when you are, Anj."

The blonde beamed and started out of the bullpen. Don had stopped to remind a fellow officer of something when he heard his girlfriend's shriek. "Scags!" she yelled, causing all eyes in the area to be directed to her. When the older detective thrust a bag into her hands, she shrieked again. "God, I love my birthday! It's just like Christmas," she exclaimed before peeking inside. "Can I open it now? Or should I wait. Johnny, don't tell me you bought me something dirty. Y'know, my boyfriend wouldn't like it if you did."

"Neither would my wife," he replied, a smile on his face as he tried to climb out of her hug. Flack had met up with the two at the tail-end of Scagnetti's comment. When Don's eyebrow rose in confusion, his girlfriend only smirked and shrugged.

"It's a secret, Donnie," she stated, all while trying to be innocent and not laugh. "I mean, just 'cause Scags and I are having this hot and heavy love affair on the side doesn't mean I love you any less." Scagnetti pursed his lips together to hold in a smile or laugh. "Hell, he probably even bought me diamonds for my birthday. All I got from you was the most amazing seats at a New York Rangers game," she offered, finishing off with a wink to her boyfriend.

Flack nodded. "Speaking of which, we should get goin' babe." She grabbed his hand and twisted it so she could check his watch. "Just so you're aware, my wrist isn't supposed to bend like that."

She shrugged. "It's not supposed to, but it did, didn't it?" With a cute smile playing across her lips, she stepped closer to her boyfriend. Flack just watched her in amusement before reminding her of the time. Jules slipped a finger through his belt loop and turned back to face Scagnetti. "Daddy says it's time to go get ready for an amazing hockey game. I guess I gotta go."

Flack only rolled his eyes. The burly detective wrapped an arm around the petite blonde's shoulder and pulled her towards him. "Have fun tonight. Make sure the boys win."

"Please," she huffed. "I have never been to a game where they've lost. Ever!" she exclaimed. "Johnny, that's like twenty-nine years of going to games."

"You just turned thirty today," John reminded her.

She nodded. "My dad's been taking me since I was around a year old. He saves all the tickets, and I checked once, and since my very first game at the tender age of thirteen months, they have never lost."

"Well, keep the tradition going."

She grinned. "I'll try." With a kiss to the cheek, she backed away into her boyfriend's arms. "See you tomorrow, Johnny. And thanks for my present."

He nodded and shook Flack's hand. "Have fun tonight. Both of you." Flack nodded before taking Jules' hand and following her out of the building. Opting to take the long way to the underground parking lot, Jules tightened her grip on Don's hand.

"You're the best, you know that, Donnie?"

He turned to his girlfriend and offered a smile. Slipping his hand out of her grasp, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close and planted a kiss to the side of head. "What's the plan for when we get home?"

"I thought you were in charge of the plans tonight, Detective? This is your present for me," she replied as they reached the door to the parking garage.

He shrugged. "Wanted to make sure you didn't have anything in mind before we had to go."

She giggled as he pulled the door open for her to walk through first. "Well, I always have _something_ in mind, but we don't really have time. It's already quarter of six, and you have to shower and stuff quickly, so there's like no time."

"You could take a shower with me," he offered.

Jules just rolled her vibrant blue eyes. "Yeah, I could," she replied, but shook her head. "We don't have time, Donnie. I want to get there for the pre-game shindig this time. Last time, when we got ready together, we were late."

Flack just smirked. They had opted that morning to take Jules' SUV, due mostly to the fact that Flack forgot to stop and get gas the night before. As he clicked off the alarm, he opened Jules' door for her before stepping around to the driver's side. Once they were both seated and the car was turned on to heat up, Jules leant over the center console and wrapped an arm around Flack's neck, turning him to face her.

When their lips touched, she moved her hand from the hairs at the base of his neck to his cheek. As they slowly pulled apart, Jules rested her forehead against his as he pecked her lips. "A thank you, in advance."

He smiled. "For what?"

"What I know will be the best birthday ever," she said, all while placing her other hand on the other side of his face and running her fingers over the dimple in his cheek. She pecked his nose and began to lean back in her seat, removing her hands from his face in the process. "C'mon, the sooner we get there, the better I can feel about my age when the sellers card me and say I don't look thirty at all."

"You don't look thirty, babe," he said as he pulled the vehicle out of the parking spot and out of the parking lot onto the street. "And I mean it. I can only imagine what people think when they see us together."

A giggle erupted from the passenger side. "Why? 'Cause I barely look old enough to drink and people can tell you're at least thirty. Damn cradle robber."

"Yep. Because fourteen months is that big of a difference."

She shrugged. "But as you just said, I don't look my age. People could think we're a lot farther away in age than fourteen months and two days."

"Wise ass." He winced as soon as the back of her hand collided with his arm. "The hell was that for?" he asked as he pulled the car to a red light. Glancing over at her, she just nibbled on her lower lip and shrugged. He placed a hand to the back of her head and ran his hand over her hair.

"Hey!" she exclaimed before pushing his hand away from her. "I don't have time to fix my hair when we get home."

He just pursed his lips and drove through the green light. "That's why man created baseball hats."

"For you, maybe. It's my birthday, baby. I wanna look cute," she said with a pout.

"Cute?" he asked, only to receive a nod from his girlfriend. "And you complain that you look too young."

Her face fell. "Donnie, you're not being helpful," she stated and crossed her arms over her chest as he pulled into the parking garage of their apartment building.

When Jules moved back to New York City from Concord New Hampshire, she began renting an apartment on the Upper West Side at the Archstone. After spending a year in her apartment with Don only a few floors below, the two decided to move in together. After knowing each other for pretty much their entire lives, and dating since Flack asked the blonde out when he was in eighth grade, and she was in seventh, living together was a whole new ballpark.

Flack had lived in the apartment on his own for roughly eight years, and through his tough work schedule, he never really took the time to decorate the apartment. When Jules moved in, the walls were still the same off-white that they were when a new tenant moved into the space. His furniture barely matched - a dark blue couch with a medium shade of green recliner took up residence in the living room. And then were moved to Craig's List and someone else's living room.

Since Anjuli moved into the apartment with him, not only was the space completely re-decorated, with matching furniture, and actual color on the walls, but he actually looked forward to coming home from a long shift. When the two lived in separate apartments, they spent quite a bit of time at Jules' apartment in comparison to his. But when the decision came to move in together, they decided on Flack's since he had lived in the building the longest.

Upon entering the apartment, Flack tossed his keys down on the table in the entryway. Jules stepped in behind him and practically pushed him in the direction of the bedroom and bathroom area. "I'm going, Anj."

"Well, not fast enough!" she replied before shutting the door and tossing the mail next to the keys on the table. "Hurry."

"We have plenty of time," he said, before turning around in between the closets in the entry and the kitchen. Flack placed a hand to either side of her stomach and kissed her forehead. "Just calm down, babe. It's only a ten minute drive."

"Without traffic," she replied. "And we're not driving there remember?" He nodded and stepped away from Anjuli and headed towards the bedroom. As much as he loved how organized his girlfriend could be, when she made him leave out the clothes he wanted to wear that night before they left for work that morning, he seriously wanted to ask what the point was. There was always the chance that he would change his mind about what he was going to wear. She claimed she wanted to have everything ready since they didn't have a whole lot of time between work and the game.

When he stepped back out and headed towards the bathroom, he met his girlfriend at the doorway. "Just calm down, babe. Everything will be fine." She smiled as he leant down towards her to peck her lips. "Go get ready. I'll be out in a few."

The blonde nodded before slipping past Flack in the doorway.

X

With a cup of beer in either hand, her oversized black purse resting on her left shoulder and herself decked out in New York Rangers gear, she followed Flack down to their seats. For her birthday, he bought two first row seats behind the Canadiens' goal, where the Rangers would shoot for two periods. A friend of his family owned the season tickets for close to fifteen years and sold them to Flack Junior for a very special reason.

As the National Anthem concluded and the starting line-ups were announced, it was game time. As Anjuli worked on a beer, hot dog and French fries, the game started. Next to her, Flack was almost done with his dinner, or the first helping of what would be their dinner, and halfway through the first beer of the night. "Did I tell you Monroe's actually watching the game tonight?" she asked, before taking a sip of her drink. "I told her we had front row seats, so she's practically watching for us."

Flack smirked. It was a wonder that Lindsay Monroe and Anjuli Fallon were as close of friends as they were. Lindsay was a country girl through and through. More focused on nature and her surroundings than sports like the younger blonde was. Anjuli was a city girl at heart, and it took her time in New Hampshire to realize that. Though Concord wasn't exactly the 'boondocks' as she called it, the city was no where as lively as New York City was.

Jules' life mainly revolved around hockey, whether playing it or watching the Rangers. It had become a tradition for the Flack and Fallon families to travel into the city to go to Rockefeller Center at least once a winter to go ice skating. Though all of their children had grown up, and most had started families, the tradition continued.

Three days after September 11th, when Anjuli came down from Concord to be with Don, the two started talking about the future. Anjuli was twenty-two and fresh out of college and just beginning her career, while Flack was twenty-three and was well into his career. Flack had just come back to his apartment from working in the rubble at the World Trade Centers, when over a home cooked dinner - Jules stocked him for food for at least a week when she had to head back to New Hampshire - he asked what she thought about for them and their future.

"_Honestly, Donnie," she started, twirling her pasta on her fork before looking up at him across from her. "I wanna marry you. I wanna be with _you _for the rest of my life."_

It was then, that for the first time since the calls went out that a plane had crashed into the WTC, that he smiled. To hear her confirm the things he had known since she left four years before. Granted, she visited at least two or three times a year, when she could. And he had taken a couple of weeks off to spend time with her in Concord, but neither had actually said how far they thought their junior high school relationship would go.

She had stayed with him for three weeks, until the beginning of October when she was told to either return to the CPD or find a new job. Three weeks after New Years 2003, she was back in his life - permanently. And she promised him that she wasn't going anywhere. It had been fourteen months between their conversations about marriage and babies, but it seemed as if no time had passed. When their families got together to go to Rockefeller Center, a few weeks later than usual, as Jules and Flack watched over her nephew, Killian, who at the time was just shy of nine months old, Flack had surprised her with telling her he wanted what their brothers had found.

Gregory Flack, Jr. had just gotten married six months before. And Brendan Fallon married his college sweetheart and had since welcomed their first child.

He told her he pictured them bringing their kids to the Center to learn how the 'trick of the trade'. Jules responded with an off-handed comment about teaching their kids to pick up perps somewhere other than an ice rink. He only shook his head and offered a smile.

"_Anj, I'm talking about skating and hockey. Two of the things that really brought us together," he said as he took her glove-covered hand in his. "I'm talkin' about havin' a family and being able to carry on this tradition with _our_ kids."_

She wasn't sure if she was scared of how much he wanted a future for them, or scared that she knew she wanted the same thing.

Watching the players on the ice, she turned to face Flack who looked like a kid in a candy shop. His blue eyes piqued with interest due to the game. His arm wrapped around her shoulders, just enough of a sign to show he was there with her. That the only two things that mattered were the game and her.

Removing the red, white, and blue Rangers scarf from around her neck, she tied it on the side of her purse. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom. Want another beer while I'm gone?" she asked, all while trying to drown out the cheering due to an Andre Kotstitsyn penalty.

He nodded and reached into his pocket to pull out a twenty. He placed it in her hand before pecking her lips quickly. She grinned in his direction before slipping out of the aisle of seats.

Glancing to the clock on the HD screen in the center of the arena, he tried to map out what he had for time. The game had gone to a television commercial break, leading to the ice being cleaned up.

He turned to the people behind him, a couple who couldn't have been much older than himself and Jules. After introducing himself, he asked one of the biggest favors of his life. "I'm planning on proposing to my girlfriend at the end of the game. If I give you my camera close to the end, when she leaves again, 'cause I know she will, do you think you could get a picture or two for me?"

The woman, who he found out was named Victoria, agreed immediately. With a promise that even if Jules didn't leave her seat again, she could distract the younger woman enough for the Don to give the camera to her husband, Jeffery.

When Jules returned, two beers in hand and a pretzel dangling from her fingers, she handed Don his drink before starting on her treat. With her beer by her feet, she peeled off a piece of the pretzel and fed it to Flack. All the while, he just shook his head at his girlfriend's actions, even though he accepted the food. "So how long have you two been together?"

The question from Victoria startled Jules. Planting a smile on her face, she turned to the redhead behind her. "Honestly? Seventeen years," she replied before popping a piece of pretzel into her own mouth. "Our parents 'introduced' us when I was only thirteen days old," the blonde said, a laugh escaping her mouth.

"You can't be that old, though."

Jules just smirked at Flack. "It's my thirtieth birthday today."

"So, you two have been together since you were in junior high?" The blonde nodded. "How has that worked out?"

Anjuli only shrugged. "I moved to New Hampshire for a while to go to college, but we were pretty much still together while I was gone. Other than those six years, 'cause I stayed up there for almost two years after graduation, we've only broken up one time."

"And we thought five years together was difficult," Victoria added.

Jules just smiled. She offered her hand to the older woman, "Anjuli Fallon."

Victoria smiled and shook Anjuli's hand. "Victoria Thomas."

With the game back underway, Flack tore his girlfriend's attention from her new friend back to the action in front of them. He also rolled his eyes when she cheered extra loud when Ryan Callahan appeared behind the net right in front of them.

No matter how long she had played for, and the amount of blood, sweat and tears she gave the game, at heart she was a true Rangers fan girl. At home, the second bedroom of their apartment was turned into a home office which boasted all of their Rangers memorabilia. No matter how much she tried to tone down her tom-boy persona, Jules' most prized possession was a signed Mark Messier jersey from the 2004 season.

Since his very first game as a Ranger, and as their captain, in 1991, she had been obsessed with every stat and fact she could read about him. From his time with the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks to his glorious return to Broadway in 2000, she received a Messier jersey every year for Christmas.

When word went out that number eleven would have his number retired and raised to the roof at Madison Square Garden, Flack bought tickets from the family friend responsible for tonight's game, so his girlfriend could be front row to see her idol for the last time. Flack couldn't wait for Christmas morning for her to open the box containing the tickets and the description of why that game was so important.

As he explained it, she placed a hand to her hip and raised her eyebrow. "Donnie, of course I already knew that!" she exclaimed before beaming and thanking her amazing boyfriend in several different ways before they had to meet their parents for brunch. "My boy's havin' his number retired!"

She always referred to Messier as 'her boy'. Flack would tease her about the eighteen year age gap between her and the famed hockey player, to which she would respond with, "Yeah, and your point is what?"

The present Rangers team brought two new 'boys' for the blonde; Ryan Callahan and Brandon Dubinsky. Angell, her Rangers partner in crime, would joke about her being a 'cougar' and going after the twenty-four and twenty-three year olds. But then Jules would explain that both made over six hundred thousand dollars per year and things were settled.

Jules glanced at the man sitting next to her in the Henrique Lundqvist jersey and smiled to herself. He was one of those fans that would encourage the team from the sidelines, though most of the language spewing from the detective was hardly rated PG.

With her hand resting on his knee, she took a moment to double check the score and time. Due to her experience at hockey games, Jules kept her drink far beneath her seat. She never knew when the home team would score and she'd have to jump from her seat to cheer or when she would be startled by a check into the glass in front of her. Even after twenty-nine years of going to games, the sound of bodies on glass was one of her least favorites, probably because she was injured by a check like those in professional hockey. Men's professional hockey, that is.

As the clock ticked around the nine minutes remaining mark, she jumped to her feet as Ryan Callahan scored at the opposite end of the ice from their seats, bringing the Rangers to lead three to two.

After the excitement died down, a Montreal goal tied it up almost four minutes later. With no more scoring in the third period, Jules rushed off to the bathroom - and to get another beer - before Overtime, giving Flack ample time to hand off the camera.

A non-eventful overtime period led to a shootout. As Madison Square Garden rose to its collective feet to cheer the 4-3 Shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens - by a score of three shoot out goals to two - Flack and Jules celebrated with a kiss. Jules' view left Flack's face to cheer along with the rest of the Blueshirts in attendance.

Flack nodded to Jeffrey and Victoria before placing his chin to Jules' shoulder. He whispered softly in her ear, "Marry me," and that was enough for her to turn her attention back to him, her expression showing complete surprise.

Her hand quickly covered her mouth as she searched Flack's sea colored eyes for an answer to her shock. When a nervous smile crossed his face, a tear escaped Jules' eye. "Really?" she asked, a near whisper, causing Flack to have to read her lips for the most part. He nodded and slipped his hand into his pants pocket, the pocket kept farthest away from the blonde all night.

The black velvet box in his hand gave her all the truth she needed. When it was opened to reveal a platinum setting with pave set diamonds surrounding a half carat cushion cut diamond, she swallowed the lump of emotion rising in her throat. "Marry me, Jules?"

No three words could have sounded any more perfect to her ears. Knowing how Flack worked, she had expected a lot less from him when it came time to propose. She expected it to be while watching the news on the couch in their apartment or while at a deli on lunch break.

Never in her wildest dreams did she actually expect for him to propose with over eighteen thousand people surrounding them. "Anj?" he asked, afraid that he wouldn't get a response.

"Of course," she responded, the butterflies in her stomach soaring at top speed. As he plucked the ring out of the box, she finally noticed photos being taken from the row behind them. Her face broke out into a huge smile as Don slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. "I love you," she whispered against his lips.

"Always, Jules. It's gonna be me and you forever," the detective whispered in her ear. She slipped a finger under his hockey jersey and through his belt loop.

As congratulations were passed around from people sitting around them, and mainly from the Thomas' behind them, Jules could not wipe the grin off her face. "We're getting married, baby." She couldn't believe it. And she couldn't have planned her thirtieth birthday being any better than Detective Don Flack, Jr. had made it.

From breakfast in bed, which sat untouched on the bedside table while he offered a better first birthday gift bright and early in the morning, to the perfect culmination, she realized how completely and wholly she was in love with the man of her dreams.

Not too long after, as people began to file out of their seats, Jules yelled at the top of her lungs, "I'm getting married!" only to receive cheers and hollers from people she had never even met.

But nothing they said or did compared to the blue eyed man who had been in her life for ten thousand, nine hundred and forty-five days.

xXx

A/N2: Photo of the ring as my avatar :)


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own CSI:NY or any of their characters. I do, however own Anjuli Elisabeth Allegra Fallon. And members of the Fallon family and those you do not recognize. I do not own any of the lyrics seen in this chapter._

_**Thank You's**__: (Beyonce for having a song that gets so stuck in my head all day at work that all I want to do is come home and write this chapter.) Amazing reviewers are: babygurl1944 and Brown-Eyed Girl 75._

_**The Chronicles.**_

**xXx**

_Show me how pretty the world is  
'Cause I envy the way that you move  
Show me how pretty the world is...cause I  
Want something just a little bit louder  
Show me how pretty the world is  
Cause you're brilliant when you try  
Show me how pretty the whole world is tonight_

_Pretty the World_ - Matt Nathanson

**xXx**

_**The Chronicles of a Trio.**_

_March 18th__, 2009_

Since Lindsay Monroe's arrival in New York City, the friendship of Jessica Angell and Anjuli Fallon extended into a tri-best friend relationship. After the stress known as May 2006 with Aiden's death and Flack's injury, Jules relied heavily on her best friends. Once Flack was alright to be on his own for a few hours - though Danny was usually at the apartment when Jules returned - the blonde was always out with her two best girlfriends.

Whether it was a night out to drink - which meant not going to Sullivan's - or a day at the spa, the three were inseparable. Flack often joked that Jules should just move in with Lindsay and Danny could take the couch at the apartment he shared with Anjuli since they shared so much time together.

To that, Jules always commented that Danny could not keep him as happy sexually as she could. Flack could not argue with her point.

After a four A.M. wake-up call due to Mac Taylor telling her about a DB in Central Park, Jules spent the next twelve hours working on the case of a dead runner. Howard Jefferies was found dead by another runner only an hour before the call to Jules' cell phone went out. Sid's cause of death was a heart attack, due to hereditary conditions.

As Jules' twelve hour shift came to an end, she met up with Angell in the cafeteria when she stopped to grab a quick drink before heading out to meet Lindsay for an early dinner. Jess had been working since an hour before the late lunch in the employee break room on the thirty-fifth floor the day before. Jules invited the brunette to grab a meal with them before they were set to meet up with their significant others at Sullivan's after the three men got out of work.

Jules sat with her back against the wall behind her and the chair she was sitting on resting against her side. With it being late afternoon, almost early evening, the Tillery Diner was quiet. For breakfast or a late dinner, the building would be packed to the brim.

James Stewart, the owner of the diner, and a man who had become extremely close to the three women due to their frequent visits, sat behind the counter, flipping through channels on the radio. "Ooh, Jimmy, keep this one on!" Jules exclaimed.

The 'trio' as they called themselves were situated at the back wall, directly across from the front door. After coming for mainly breakfast or a late dinner at least three times a week since 2007, Jimmy would try to keep the table unoccupied in case they stopped in.

Jules grabbed a hair clip from the handles of the lime green oversized purse sitting on the chair next to her, and tossed her hair into a mess of curls and clipped them together. Katy Perry's single, "Thinking of You" drifted through the surround sound speakers in the diner. Though they found it halfway through the song, Jules grabbed her spoon and held it to her mouth as a microphone.

When she was younger and would start singing along with the radio in the car with her mother, Abigail Fallon tried to talk her only daughter out of playing hockey and focus on her main talent - her voice. Jules just claimed she got lucky and could carry a note, but if she ever planned on doing anything with the talent, it would be as a hobby.

"_You're the best, and yes, I do regret how I could let myself let you go. Now, now the lesson's learned. I touched it, I was burned. Oh, I think you should know!_"she sang to her friends, who both had smiled etched on their faces.

Jess had noted on several occasions when the three would take up residence inside the Tillery Diner with the radio blasting and Jules singing along with whoever happened to be playing at the moment, that her best friend was extremely gifted. Whenever she and Lindsay tried to sing along, their voices never matched correctly, and everything would be thrown for a loop. The only time the three sounded good singing together was on nights when they went out for karaoke and were half tanked by the time they made their way to the microphones.

Anjuli made it a mission to keep her left hand out of the view of everyone she came across that day. While she was extremely excited that she was getting married - though not even twenty-four hours after the proposal had passed - she wanted to tell her two best friends first. She knew her third best friend, Aiden, already knew and was probably throwing a party in heaven, claiming it 'took Flack long enough to get his head out of his ass'. She had said the same thing when Flack finally asked Jules to move in with him after a year of living on her own, in the same building.

As the song came to an end, clapping and a bass drum could be heard through the speakers, meaning only one thing to the threesome. Their favorite song was on.

Jules slipped out of her chair, followed immediately by Angell, and slowly but surely the country girl followed suit. The platinum blonde chanted out, "All the single ladies," only for the other two to answer with "all the single ladies."

Growing up as one of the boys, Jules never cared about sex appeal. It was something she learned about by being friends with the gorgeous Jessica Angell. The woman was walking sex appeal. When the two became as close as sisters, although Jules was two years older than the brunette, Angell taught her new friend all about being confident and sexy.

And, damn if Flack didn't approve of the change in his girlfriend. He was used to the blonde walking around their apartment in racer back tank tops and shorts, which slowly but surely turned into lacy boy shorts and barely there camisoles.

For a woman who could care less about foundation and mascara for twenty-six years, the counter in the bathroom became inhabited by hair curlers, bottles of hair spray, hair gel, lip gloss, sets of -as far as Flack knew - expensive make-up and the like. What started out as a little eyeliner and a little cover-up here and there, turned into a daily routine. Don could count on just maybe two hands how many times Jules had actually gone to a nail salon in her life until she met Angell.

After that, they were frequent customers at Allure Spa for manicures, pedicures, massages and waxing. While Flack accepted the change in appearance, he had only hoped what was on the inside of the woman he fell in love was still there. It was. But there was a new found confidence that came with her.

Four years ago, before she even knew Jessica Angell existed, she would have never danced in public. Not without being intoxicated, that was.

As the three tried their best to impersonate Beyonce's moves in the music video, Jules tried to continue to keep her ring unseen. With none of the women technical 'single ladies' Jess was the only one not engaged, though they didn't know it.

Lindsay's wedding was planned for June. As she looked forward to becoming Mrs. Danny Messer, her usually calm temperament was thrown out the window for a frayed bride-to-be. Her best friends would not go as far as calling the Montana native a Bridezilla, but saw the opportunity for a big blow-up to happen if her wedding planner never got her ass in gear.

Jules knew that if she had to, she would just knock the shit out of the prestigious wedding planner and take over where she left off. She was willing to try to part the Red Sea for her best friend if Lindsay so much as asked her to. Jess was in the same boat. The two had decided that since they both agreed to wear the shit green bridesmaid dresses that Lindsay had her heart set out - and neither had the heart to break it to her that they hated them in all honesty - they would do anything for the eldest of their tight knit group of friends.

When the song concluded and slid effortlessly into another Top 40 hit, Jules laughed with her best friends. As she reached for her glass of Diet Coke on the table, Jess caught sight of the diamond resting on her best friend's left right finger. "What the fuck is that?" she asked, before reaching out and grabbing Jules' hand.

As the two bore their eyes into Jules, she just smiled brightly. "Someone put a ring on it," she offered simply.

The two patrons on the opposite side of the diner shuddered as two shrieks echoed off of the walls. "Nuh uh! He fuckin' proposed without askin' us!" Jess exclaimed.

Lindsay shrieked again before pushing her seat away from her to rush over to her best friend. "Ju-Ju! You're getting married!" she exclaimed before pulling the platinum blonde into a tight hug.

"Jules, I told you I wanted _all _of the details from last night! You clearly skipped out on something," Angell stated before squeezing Jules' left hand, "when we were talking over coffee at work this morning!"

Jules offered a smile and shrugged. "I wanted to tell you both together."

Lindsay added, "But you didn't say anything when we first got here!"

Tossing a smile in the direction of Jimmy, she slid back into her seat. "I was going to. Believe me, I wouldn't have kept this from you two. I need my two best friends with me to help plan a wedding!" she declared. "I was wondering if you guys would be my Maid of Honor and Matron of Honor. I just can't decide between the two of you."

Jess and Lindsay squealed and grabbed each other's hands. "Really?" Jess asked, a brilliant smile crossing her flawless features. "Like, really, really?" Jules nodded.

As she took each of their hands into hers, she beamed. "It's the three of us against the world. I need you two there, right next to me."

"Ju-Ju," Lindsay started, before pausing to lick her lips and contain her excitement for a moment, "You realize you got engaged _last_ night. You're talking like you've already planned everything out."

The blonde shrugged. "I don't wanna wait that long, y'know?" she asked before leaning back in her seat. "I've been with Donnie my entire life. And it's taken five years since I came back to New York for him to propose. I really don't want to wait forever to marry him," she explained.

"You just wanna look hot in a wedding gown before he knocks you up," Angell added. Jules started laughing before she let go of her friends hands. "He did good, though, J," the homicide detective said as she pointed to the diamond on her friends finger.

Watching the expressions play across Angell's face, Jules offered a simple smile. "Don't think that 'cause Linds and I are getting married that we're just gonna leave you high and dry," Jules stated before locking blue eyes on hazel. "You're our girl forever, Jessie. Married or not married, it's the trio for the rest of our lives."

"And you never know," Lindsay pointed out, "Travis may propose one of these days."

Angell just laughed off the idea. Jules had introduced her best friend to Travis Sweeney at a FDNY/NYPD charity softball game the year before. Jules' middle brother, Patrick, was a member of the FDNY and close friends with Travis. While at Patrick's oldest son, Killian's, birthday party the week before the game, Jules met the brown-haired, green-eyed fire fighter and knew he would be a perfect match for her single best friend.

After being on the winning team of the softball game, Jules introduced Jess to Travis and brought up the idea for a double date the following weekend. Only two hours into the night out, Flack and Jules were left at the table after Jess excused herself and the fire fighter for the evening. When Jessie showed up late and with a permanent smile attached to her lips, Jules credited herself with finding a good guy for her single best friend.

"I doubt it," the brunette offered before taking a sip of her drink. "I mean," she started before pursing her lips, "I want him to. Don't get me wrong. But it's just," a pause silenced the table. "Linds, you've been with Danny for almost two and a half years. Jules, don't even get me started on how long your relationship with Flack is."

The blonde shook her head. "Jessie, it's not about how long you've been with him. If you love Travis as much as Linds and I love Danny and Don, anything is possible."

"Do you know something I don't know?" the brunette asked. In all honesty, the two women shook their heads. "Good. 'Cause as much as I would love to get married, I have to help you two bitches out first."

Smiles crossed Lindsay and Jules' faces. "Linds is first. Except I know when they're married, Messer will be at my place more often."

Lindsay only shrugged. "I think it's that secret affair he's been having with Flack for a few years."

The blonde nodded. "Must be. There could be no other reason that they kick us out when the Mets are on."

"Could be 'cause they know you guys don't watch baseball," Angell inquired. Reaching into her designer purse, she grabbed a few bills to cover her part of the meal as the other two followed suit. As Jules stood up, she slipped on her black motorcycle style winter jacket. The pockets were pushed back to her sides and the zipper went up in a diagonal style rather than straight up and down.

"Maybe," Jules responded with a laugh. "I don't know what it is about that sport. It's way too boring to watch on television."

"The game they took us to last year was great," Lindsay replied. "Might be because we were trashed, though."

The threesome laughed. Jules placed a kiss to Jimmy's cheek on their way out. "See you later this week, Jim," she added before exiting the diner. Slipping her arm between Angell's, Jules laughed. "Who knew the Mets and the Yankees had such a big rivalry."

Angell rolled her eyes. For someone who also grew up with three older brothers, she was in tune with every sport. One brother was a huge baseball and basketball fan. Another loved the New York Giants. And her youngest brother loved the Rangers. Being a Rangers and Mets fan herself, she could easily slip into a sports related conversation with Danny and Flack, while Jules focused mainly on the Rangers and Lindsay tagged along to games for a night out.

"Nothin' gets by you, huh, Jules?" Angell asked with a laugh. The blonde only shrugged and pulled a pack of Ice Breakers Sour gum out of the pocket of her jacket and slipped a piece into her mouth. "So, what's the game plan for tonight?" the brunette asked as they neared their cars.

"We can head back to my place for a little bit to get ready. Donnie won't be home for another hour or so."

The other two nodded in response to Jules' offer before breaking apart to get into their own vehicles. Once she was about halfway through the drive to her apartment, Jules felt her cell phone vibrate in the pocket of her jeans.

Pulling to a red light, she slid the phone out and a bright smile crossed her lips at the name on the caller I.D. "Hey you."

"Hey, babe," responded the voice on the other end. The Queens accent drifted through the phone as she fumbled with the Blackberry enough to put it on speaker phone. "What are ya up to?"

Placing the phone on her lap, she slid through the green light. "On my way back to our apartment. I just got out of having dinner with Lindsay and Jessie."

She could picture the smirk on his face as he spoke. "Did you tell them about last night?" He was proud of how well he pulled everything off the day before. Jules never suspected a thing. Luckily she had no idea, because if she did, she would have been asking him questions all day. If there was one thing Anjuli truly hated, it was surprises. In his mind, every time they talked about having kids in the future, she always said she wanted to have a delivery surprise. Somehow he knew that wouldn't happen. There was no way she could go nine days without knowing about a surprise, let alone nine months.

"In an ass backwards way, yes." As she drifted towards another red light - a huge pet peeve she had about New York City, since she hated traffic with a passion - she took out a package of cigarettes from her purse as well as her lighter. "It was so hard not telling anyone all day," she complained, before placing a cigarette to her lips to light. "I was at a scene with Danny today and all I wanted to do was tell him, but I knew Lindsay and Jessie would kick the living shit out of me."

Flack laughed. "I told you to tell them last night when we got back."

She huffed at his statement. "Really, Donnie? You told me to send each of them a _text message_. Like seriously, Don? A text message to tell them the most important news in my entire life."

"I sent Messer one when you were getting changed."

She rolled her eyes and took a drag of her cigarette. Jules always claimed that it was a disgusting habit she picked up from Flack when they were sixteen and seventeen respectively. They had been hanging out with Flack's older brother, Gregory, and his friends in the backyard of the Flack residence.

With Greg being three and a half years older than Don, the two were surprisingly close. Most guys with brothers, or sisters, that much younger than them would shove them off to the side. Greg would always ask Don, and Jules in turn, to hang out with him and his friends. One reason was because of how close they were. Another was because his friends thought Jules was attractive and figured if their girlfriends weren't there, they could look at her all night.

After helping finish off a few bottles and cans of alcohol while sitting out by the fire pit, Greg offered his only brother a cigarette. He was a bit skeptical of giving one to his brother's girlfriend since she was a year younger than his brother, but he did anyways. After fourteen years, she tried her hardest to kick the vice, but had succeeded in slowing her habit down to a pack every four or five days, while Flack when through one a day.

"You would, Donnie." Resting her arm on the steering wheel, she checked her mirrors. "Wait," she exclaimed, "you told Messer before you let me tell my best friends."

She could just picture him at that moment. It was closing in on six P.M., so he would be outside of the precinct smoking a cigarette with his back against the wall and his leg bent at the knee and resting behind him on the same brick wall. A roll of his sea blue eyes would complete his look. "Messer knew I was proposing about three weeks before I actually did. I just had to let him know you said yes."

"Donald Joseph Flack, Jr. You are a God damned pain in my ass," she stated before licking her lips. As the light turned green, she cursed at the drivers in front of her for not going fast enough. He chuckled at her reaction. "How in the hell did Danny not say anything to Linds? He can't keep his mouth shut around her. Especially when she knows he knows something she doesn't know."

Flack just laughed. What he wasn't planning on telling her was that Danny helped him pick out the ring that graced her left ring finger. Upon entering the jewelry store, he was shell shocked. It was a damn diamond. Or as Danny would say, "Diamond is just an allotrope of the element carbon." He didn't understand the "four c's" of diamond shopping. Needless to say, with Flack and Messer in the store, the workers were treated to two men who had no idea what they were really doing.

He knew if he let on that fact, the would be in hot water with his new fiancé. After Danny asked Anjuli to join to pick out a ring for Lindsay, Jules went home and told Flack that if he ever planned on popping the question, and between the lines that meant he better do it, and do it soon, he was to bring Lindsay with him to the store. Or Angell. Either of the two women knew her style of jewelry. Somehow the two guys picked out a ring that was perfect for the blonde.

"He can keep a secret, Anj." She scoffed at the concept of Danny Messer keeping his mouth shut with a secret for more than twenty minutes. It was almost a year to the date when Jules had thought there was a possibility she was pregnant. Lindsay was in Montana for the weekend to visit her folks, and Angell was holed up at her desk working on several cases. Danny Messer was the only person she could turn to. However, when she told him to promise to not say anything to anyone until she was positive that she was or wasn't pregnant, an hour later she received a phone call from her boyfriend asking what the hell Danny was talking about when he mumbled, 'baby', 'pregnant', 'Ju-Ju' in one sentence.

"That's bullshit, and you know it. You must have had something hanging over his head to keep his trap shut," she guessed before arriving at the underground parking area for their apartment. After punching in the code she pulled her dark blue 2008 Mazda CX-9 into one of the two designated parking spots for their apartment. Clicking off the speaker phone and placing the device to her ear, she sighed. "When are you gonna be home?" she asked, mainly to change the topic.

He sighed in response. "I'm hoping within the hour. I just gotta head back in and finish up my report and I should be good to go," replied the homicide detective. "Shouldn't take me that long."

She nodded before heading over towards the elevators leading into the building. "Alright. I'm gonna head in so I get there before the girls. I'll see you in a bit."

"Of course."

A smile crossed her face. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Anj. See you in a little while," he said before disconnecting the call.

Once inside her apartment, she placed her purse on the couch in the living room before shrugging out of her jacket. With it secured in the hallway closet, a buzzing could be heard by the door, indicating her friends were there.

After letting them inside, and propping the front door open for them to come right in when they made it to her floor, she walked into the kitchen and pulled three wine glasses from the cabinet over the stove. The kitchen had a breakfast bar separating it from the dining area, so Jules placed the glasses there with a bottle of wine from the refrigerator.

Two knocks could be heard on the wooden door before it got kicked. "Bitch, where are you?" Angell offered as she stepped into the apartment.

"Kitchen," was all Jules said.

"Baby cakes, you got me wine. Tryin' to get me all drunk before the hubby-to-be gets home?" the brunette detective offered as she neared the breakfast bar. "You know I don't need booze to loosen me up."

"But I sure as hell do," the Bozeman native stated before pouring out three glassed. "Speaking of Don, when's he gonna be home?"

Jules partially shrugged. "He said within the hour," she replied before turning on the CD player on the counter in the kitchen. Though she had a packed Itunes library on her laptop and desktop computers, she kept burnt mix cd's on hand for whenever she was working in the kitchen or people were over.

"Are you putting on the country one?" Lindsay asked. Jules nodded before pressing play and lifting herself onto the counter. Sugarland's "Down in Mississippi (Up to No Good)" drifted through the surround sound speakers in the kitchen and dining room.

"This reminds me," Angell began before taking a seat at the bar. "When are the three of us going on vacation together?"

Both blondes shrugged their shoulders. "I'm gonna have no money after I plan this wedding, so it could be a while."

Jess just scoffed at Jules. "Really? You've been saving money for this wedding for close to five years."

"Granted, yeah, Don and I have been saving up for this since we talked about it when I moved back here, but still. I don't want some cheap ass wedding."

"You know that whenever you say you want something specific for the wedding, Flack will jump at it so fast your head will spin," Lindsay added to the conversation. Jules just smiled. "That man is whipped."

Angell nodded. "He would move Heaven and Earth for you, babes." Not like he would ever admit it to anyone but her, but Flack loved doing things for Anjuli. As long as they've known each other, even before they started dating, whenever she asked him to do something for her, he would drop everything else he was doing for her.

She honestly never realized he was like that until her roommate in New Hampshire pointed it out.

"It's not like I don't do anything in return. That man is so lucky to have sex as often as he does that I can get away with him doing a few things here and there for me."

"It's not everyday though."

Jules just rolled her eyes. "God, Jessie, you sound just like him. No, it's not every single day. But that man is well satisfied when I'm done with him," she responded before taking a sip of her wine. "And for you information, it's almost every other day."

The added information made Lindsay cough on her drink while Jess just gave the blonde a high five. "Totally thought I was the only one keeping my man nice and satisfied."

Jules laughed. "I've heard some of the things Travis has said to Flack. That man is more than satisfied, sweetheart." The brunette blushed. "And we know Montana has been keeping up in that department. Messer hasn't been a super prick lately. He only gets like that when you deprive him."

The country girl flipped the blonde off. "Nah, I thank you for that, Linds. And by the way, you're not allowed to leave us with him anymore when you go home to visit. He gets all pissy 'cause he hasn't gotten any in a few days when you leave."

"At least with Rikki out of the situation, you don't have to worry about that." Angell spoke the truth. Since the Ruben Sandoval incident years before, and since Danny's 'screw-up of a relationship' - his own words - with Rikki, Danny and Lindsay had been on pins and needles as far as their relationship went. That was until Danny got his neighbor to go to grief meetings after she stole his gun.

A couple of weeks after going to the meetings, Danny was leaving his apartment one morning and saw a guy entering hers. It had happened every day that week. When he saw Rikki a few days later, he tried to get a little information about the man. Samuel Carpenter was the exact person Rikki Sandoval needed. He had lost his daughter three years before, and while he accepted losing his fourteen year old, he kept going to the meetings in hopes of helping someone else.

With twins on the way, Danny lost contact with Rikki when she moved out of the apartment building and into a new house with Samuel. He got a phone call when they were born, and was one of the first people to visit Jacob Michael and Joshua David Carpenter in the hospital. Seeing Rikki move on helped Danny and Lindsay's relationship move on to another level.

"We actually went to visit them the other day. Check up on the twins," Lindsay declared. No matter how much time passed, Lindsay felt a little envious of the brunette. She was glad she moved on - and in Lindsay's mind 'left her man alone' - and had began a new chapter in her life with two new babies. But Lindsay wanted Danny to stop blaming himself for the whole ordeal. He did what he thought was right in that split-second he had to think.

"Was it as awkward as I think it would be?"

Lindsay shook her head. "Not really," she replied. "I don't have the overwhelming sense of jealousy around her anymore."

"That's good, then," Angell responded, lifting her wine glass to her lips. "Oh," she exclaimed before turning towards Jules. "I ran into Devon the other day."

Jules just laughed at the mention of the redhead. "Sounds like that was a whole ball of fun. Sorry I missed out."

Jess shrugged. "I was out with Travis getting breakfast Saturday morning when she spotted me," she began before leaning back in her seat to tell the story. "He had just a call to go into work, so we were on our way out. And then I hear my name screeched over the noise in the diner. Turn around, and there's the crazy bitch."

Even though she had never met the woman Don spent five months with in 2007, Jules had heard several stories from Lindsay and Angell. Though Jules was living with Jess, Devon still tried her best to weasel her way between their friendship. Angell, being the ever protective best friend told the redhead one thing; "_You stay the hell away from my best friend, or I won't hesitate to knock the ever living shit out of you. You broke her heart by prancing around with Flack, but I will not be a pawn in this game of yours_."

"She acts like we're the best of friends, and Trav's givin' me this weird look 'cause I don't think he's ever heard the story of the crazy trust fund hooker." Jess paused for a moment to take a sip of her drink. "After she eyed my boyfriend up and down, she had the audacity to ask me how Flack was. Don't worry, I told her you two were back together and very happy." A smile crossed Jules' face. She knew no matter what, Jessica Angell always had her back. In a world of worries, that was one thing she never batted an eyelash about. "She goes on by telling me that if anything happens in 'paradise' - her exact words - to let Flack know she's only kind of, sort of seeing this guy."

Both Lindsay and Anjuli broke out laughing at the last comment. "She really said that?" Jules asked, only to receive a nod from Angell. The blonde pursed her lips together to hold in a laugh. "I know for a fact that if anything were to happen between Donnie and I, he would not touch that bitch with a ten foot pole."

The three were so into their conversation and the music was pretty loud, so they never heard Flack walk in the front door. "I was thinking more along the lines of a twenty foot pole, but that's just me," he offered from the doorway of the kitchen.

Jules broke out with a bright smile at the sight of her fiancée. "Hi," she offered quietly. He shrugged out of his overcoat and tossed it on the counter before striding over towards Jules. As he slipped his arms around her slim frame, he dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "How'd you know we were talkin' about Devon?" Jules asked before taking a sip of her wine.

After pulling a bottle of beer out of the fridge, Flack rested against the counters. "Besides the fact that I was standing there for a good few minutes and heard most of your conversation?" he asked, an amused smirk on his lips. Jules just turned over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him, playing with the barbell pierced through her tongue with her teeth. Flack wiggled his eyebrows as he drank from the bottle. "There aren't many people you talk like that about."

"Good thing she's never actually met the trust fund bitch," Lindsay added. "With the knowledge of Jules loving a good cat fight every once and a while, and that when she really hates someone she'll let them know it, it wouldn't be pretty."

"I'd watch it, though," Flack responded. "C'mon, Linds," he added when the woman in question glared at him, not amused. "It's a chick fight. Who doesn't love a good chick fight?"

Anjuli just rolled her eyes before slipping off of the counter. "Time to get ready. We have to meet up with everyone soon," stated the blonde as she stood in front of Flack. When his lips descended on hers, she heard a gagging sound come from the bar. Knowing that it was Angell being a wise ass, she stuck her middle finger up at the brunette.

"That's not very nice, Jules. Didn't Mommy dearest ever teach you manners?"

Jules pulled away from Flack and shrugged. "Was that before or after she told me that not wanting to be a debutante would not only ruin my future, but would prove to her how much I never really followed in her footsteps?" she asked with a hand to her hip.

Continuing on her way out of the kitchen, she headed towards the master bedroom. "Fair enough," Angell replied. "Just think; if you had actually become a debutante princess like your mother wanted, you probably wouldn't be here with us low-lifes right now."

A laugh could be heard from the closet in the bedroom. "Cute, Jessie," she responded, a laugh tumbling out of her mouth. "I'm just getting changed, so you two can come in and grab something to change into if you want."

Lindsay shrugged the idea off, while Angell started the trek into the bedroom.

xXx

Sullivan's was their usual hang-out; if one would consider a cop-bar a hang-out. Music echoed off of the walls and there was usually one or two pool or dart matches happening at the far end of the establishment.

With her jacket already hanging loosely on the back of her chair, Jules and Angell squeezed their way through the crowd to the bar. In a form fitting black and white halter top with ruffles in the top white part that stopped at an oversized black belt that began the bottom portion matched with equally as tight navy blue bootleg jeans tucked into black and white knee high stiletto boots, she was ready to let loose. Though it was only Wednesday night, and she had work at three the next afternoon, she wanted just one night out with her closest friends, and she wanted desperately to truly enjoy the time out.

After placing the first round of drinks, she leant against the bar and turned to Angell. "It's so good to be out tonight," she stated while taking in the atmosphere. "It's not like we don't go out a lot, it's just, with everything that's been goin' on lately, I'm so excited that the six of us could get together at once."

"For now," Angell said over the music of the digital jukebox in the corner of the bar. "Who knows if one of us will get a call out while we're here."

Jules shrugged. "Can't really go into work, though. I know Danny and I aren't on call, 'cause we were last night. You were last night, too. Donnie doesn't go on call 'til tomorrow morning, as does Lindsay. We should be good," Jules responded. "That is unless some psycho wants to go on a rampage in New York City tonight."

Jess laughed as she ran a hand through her loose locks. "Never know what'll happen with all the psychos in this city." Anjuli nodded. "So I was thinking," she started, catching Jules' attention. "How 'bout the two of us start brain storming ideas for your upcoming nuptials this weekend. Over coffee Saturday morning?"

Anjuli licked her lips and flashed her best friend a smile. "As much as I would love to _start_ this weekend, my mind is on overdrive and has already started." She slid the twenty dollar bill towards the bartender with her smile still intact. The split the drinks up to carry over to the table they managed to grab by the pool tables. "I can't wait to get married, but it's gonna be so much goddamn work," she laughed as the bartender handed her the change. After tossing him his first tip of the night, they ventured back to the table.

"That's what you have me for," Jess stated.

"I know, and I'm gonna warn you, I'll probably end up some crazy Bridezilla by the time this is all over."

Angell laughed. "I won't put it past you, Jules."

With the drinks on the table for everyone to grab, Jules watched Angell lift her bottle of beer.

"A toast," she began, before turning her attention to Jules and Flack. The announcement made the guys stop their conversation about the Rangers game the night before and made Lindsay look up from the text message she was writing. "To the next to bitches getting married." The blonde rolled her eye before tapping her bottle against Angell's.

"That started off so great, Jessie," Anjuli said. "And ended in such an Angell way."

Jess grinned. "What can I say? I have a way with words," she concluded before following everyone else and took a sip from her bottle.

As the group slowly dispersed around the bar; Jules, Jess and Lindsay selecting music on the jukebox and the guys playing a game of pool with a friend of Travis', Jules realized her life could not get any better.

Not only was she engaged to the man of her dreams, and excited to not only plan their wedding but truly start her life with him, but she thanked God for giving her the four best friends any one could ask for.

In her mind, her life was just beginning.

xXx


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: **So I apologize severely for taking forever with this chapter. It started off so, so well, and then poof, lost my train of thought. I have plans of using every fifth chapter (1, 5, 10, etc) for a future chapter. This may change in the future, but it's just my plan at the moment. So you have that to look forward to :]_ **Please check out the poll on my page. It's for chapters six through nine.**

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own CSI:NY or any of their characters. I do, however own Anjuli Elisabeth Allegra Fallon. And members of the Fallon family and those you do not recognize. _

_**Thank You's**__: Babygurl 1944 and Brown-Eyed Girl 75. And to the lurkers, of course. It is okay to review :]_

_**The Chronicles.**_

**xXx**

_I already see us moving mountains  
I already see us walk in water  
I already see the clouds we're flying  
Over and under  
I can really see us having babies  
Walking through the park and being lazy  
I already see myself falling in love eternally  
And I think that's just the way it's gonna be  
And I think that's just the way it's gonna be_

_Be_ - Jessica Simpson

**xXx**

_**The Chronicles of Work.**_

_March 19__th__, 2009_

As she laid in bed with Flack for the morning, due to schedules that finally gave them a day to sleep in, and more importantly, together, Jules shuddered at the thought of going out in the weather. She loved New York City; the bright lights, the people she met on a day to day basis, her job, her friends, but she hated the weather. The fact that it changed at the drop of a hat never sat well with her. New Hampshire wasn't very different, though. She could not look at the two states and see complete differences in their weather.

But as she answered a call from Mac telling her to meet Danny at a crime scene an hour before her shift was supposed to beg, she finally caught a weather report and looked out the window. The two had slept late, and Flack had even splurged to make breakfast. As they munched on the meal in bed with the television in the bedroom showing highlights of the hockey games the night before on SportsCenter, weather and work were the last two things of their mind.

The clouds crowded the sky, painting it gray and white, with no sun in sight. Or in the forecast. When she drove towards the scene, she feared that the sky would open up and begin to rain a few hours before the weatherman forecasted. Rain was the worst for a CSI. It degraded evidence like that was its sole purpose. And made their lives a living hell.

_Let's just wrap this scene up and take it back to the lab before the rain pours down on us, _she thought as she stepped out of her SUV.

"What have we got, Messer?" Jules asked as she approached the crime scene tape.

"You're sounding more and more like Flack everyday," he chided, only to receive a smirk and a shrug from the blonde. As she slipped beneath the tape, she placed her kit and her camera on the ground next to Danny's and pulled a pair of latex gloves from her oversized navy blue winter jacket proclaiming CSI on the back. "Just what it look likes," the Staten Island native began as he looked over his shoulder to Jules, "a DB ruining my only day off this week," he stated before standing up.

If it weren't for the idea of contaminating her gloves, she would have slapped him upside the head. "Thanks, jackass, I caught that."

"The name is Georgia Everett," Angell said as she began walking over to the two. "Twenty-four years old."

Jules nodded and pursed her lips. Her body was in the position indicating a dump job. Arms were crossed showing remorse on the behalf of her murderer. "She's a nurse at St. Vinny's from Greenwich Village," Danny said as he flipped through the woman's wallet. "Got some cash, and all of her cards are still here."

"So we're not lookin' at a robbery," Jules concluded. Rolling her neck around to rid herself of the feeling of laying in bed - what she was doing with Flack for the past few hours before she was called out - she crouched next to the body. "Only problem with this woman is the slice across her throat," she said before turning to Danny as he stood next to her.

Danny scoffed, "If it wasn't for that detail we would both be at home, enjoying our mornings."

"Not together, I hope," Angell interrupted.

A disgusted look took over Jules' face. "Not a chance. Donnie and I were just lounging around being lazy this morning. It was actually like paradise."

The detective only rolled her hazel eyes at her best friend. She, however, thanked her lucky stars that she didn't get a play by play of the morning's events. Angell had had enough of the Flack and Anjuli trysts playing in her mind thanks to her best friend's need to share every encounter to last her a life time. If she ever questioned how bad Flack, Danny and Travis could be when they got together for some locker room convo, she knew Jules was right up there with them.

"I don't really see anything out of the ordinary about this drop-off," Jules declared as she stretched out to grab the camera a few feet away from her. Danny noticed her efforts and grabbed it for her and handed it to her. With her eye up to the device, she continued, "She hasn't been disturbed, so she more than likely couldn't have been put here all that long ago. This is a pretty busy neighborhood."

Danny shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, but it's almost eleven in the morning. Most people are at work by now. So this guy must have be pretty gutsy to drop a body in broad daylight."

"Personally, I love walking over a dead body on the way to work," she added with a laugh. As she got close-up shots of the body, Jules stood up and backed up to get full length photos. A gust of wind blew through the area, dispersing the vic's hair in several different directions. Jules caught a glimpse of what she thought was a business card tucked under Georgia's shoulder.

She pointed it out to Danny who lifted her body enough so Jules could grab the paper. "_It's only the beginning,_" the card read.

Her eyes narrowed on the writing as she bit the inside of her lip and shook her head. "If this," she indicated by pointing to the body on the cement, "is only the beginning, what more do we have to look forward to?"

"And how many more will there be?" Danny asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Hope neither of you have plans for the next few days."

Anjuli flicked her eyebrows in frustration before placing the camera next to their kits again.

xXx

She was never a big fan of autopsy. It wasn't so much the sight of the victims being cut open for Sid Hammerbeck to examine, but more the scent that lingered in the area. As she strained her hands together after pulling her loose locks into a tight ponytail at the center of her head, Jules pushed open the door leading into the cool room.

"So am I the last one to hear that you're engaged?" the M.E. asked as the blonde entered the room.

A smile broke out across Anjuli's face as her eyes lifted to the older man. "I don't think Whitford has heard yet," she offered as she took her place next to Georgia Everett's body. "And it's not like I was trying to hide it from you. It happened not even forty-eight hours ago, and I waited almost twenty-four to tell my best friends."

"I'm just teasing you, Jules." Jules smiled a very rare genuine smile while in autopsy. "Congratulations. To both you and Don," he responded with.

"Thanks, Sid. It means a lot coming from you." It was Sid's turn to bust out with a smile. A goofy smile, but a genuine one none the less. "As long as you promise me, right here and right now that you'll dance with me at my wedding."

He laughed. "And here I was thinking that you finally got your ring, and that you'd be pulling Flack to the JP as soon as possible." Jules' infectious laugh bounced through the morgue. "I never pictured you as a white dress, big wedding kind of girl."

She only pursed her lips and shrugged. "Life is full of surprises, Dr. Hammerbeck. Though, let me tell ya, I am totally not looking forward to going dress shopping. Talk about a massive pain in the ass," she laughed. "And then my mother will weasel her way into going with us, and by us I mean Lindsay and Angell, so I will be totally outnumbered."

"Bring your father. We all know how much he worships the ground his baby girl walks on," the graying man said. "Jodi, my oldest daughter, brought me with her to pick out her dress. I actually enjoyed myself."

Jules giggled. "My dad would rather go with me to buy hockey equipment than a wedding dress. Bad enough he has to brush up on his dancing skills between now and the wedding."

"Any dates in mind?"

"Jeez, Sid. I haven't fully comprehended the fact that after close to seventeen years, I'm finally getting my wedding, and you're trying to get me to pick everything out right now." She licked her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. "All I know is it'll be this fall, 'cause there is no way in hell I am letting Donnie hold off any longer. And just for the torture of not proposing over the past two years, he's wearing his dress blues."

"Cruel and unusual punishment, Jules," the doctor replied with. She only grinned and nodded. "So let's talk about this young lady, shall we?" Jules nodded again. "I sent stomach contents up to Danny in Tox almost an hour ago. I estimated T.O.D. between ten o'clock last night and midnight."

Jules pulled the notepad she kept with her, especially for autopsy, out of her back pocket and jotted down the information. "Can't get any more accurate?"

"I'm afraid not, Jules." Reaching towards the end of the table sitting next to the slab where Georgia Everett's body rested, he grabbed a plastic container and handed it to Anjuli. When her eyes light up, he smirked. "There was a bit of trace inside the neck wound. Thought you would like to play around with that for a little while." He turned his eyes back to the body and put on his glasses.

She nodded, "Anything else on her other than the cut across her throat?"

The medical examiner shook his head. "There isn't a whole lot else to help you with. I do, however, have some trace I collected from her hair on it's way to Adam. Not a lot to go on with this one."

Jules slipped her notepad back into her pocket and sighed. "This guy was good. Left little evidence behind and is planning to do it again."

"How do you know it wasn't a one time deal?"

"He left a card. _This is only the beginning._"

Sid nodded. "So you get to put your profiling skills to work. The B.A.U. wasn't interested in you just because you're a pretty face," he added.

Blush rose in Jules' cheek. "You've been going to too many late night subway performances with Mac and Stella. Every time we get something that includes a profile, he brings that up."

"I never understood why you turned them down. It's the F.B.I. The pinnacle of this job."

The blonde shrugged. "This is where I belong. In New York City, with the NYPD, with my family and my best friends…"

He cut her off, "With Detective Flack." She grinned. "Is that why New Hampshire never really worked out?"

"For the most part," she answered. "And then Nine Eleven happened, and even though I spent three weeks here, doing what I could to help out at Ground Zero, when I went back to Concord, I never felt like I really fit in up there. I was the outsider. But I'm glad I came back here."

"Especially with an impending marriage," he tossed in. At the mention of her newest task, she broke out in a large grin. "Just think, a year or two down the line you could be coming in here to talk about a victim and you'll be pregnant."

For the second time since she arrived in autopsy, her laughter broke up the depressing work. "I have quite some time before I am even going to start _thinking_ about having kids."

Sid nodded and took his glasses off. "But you want them, right?" She nodded. "Don't wait too long, then."

She opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by the ringing of her cell phone. "Sorry, Sid. Thank you," she started before holding up the container in her hand. He nodded and watched her leave his room. "What's up Danny?"

"I got the Tox results back," he stated.

"Give me a few. I just left autopsy." With the phone call disconnected, she entered the elevator. After pressing the button for the thirty-fifth floor, she rested her head back against the wall and let Sid's words wash through her mind again. _Kids_. Just the idea of having children with Don brought a smile to her face. After seeing him when his nephew was born almost five years ago, she knew in that moment he was the man she wanted to have a family with.

In the silence of the private room on the maternity ward, with only Jules and Austin Gregory Flack, Don found his calling in life. For the time being it was to spoil his nephew and be the best uncle he could be. But when the day came that he could become a father on his own, he vowed to not miss a beat in his child's life.

When Austin became a big brother to Jasmine Sophia two years later, in August of 2006, it furthered his desire to have a family of his own.

On Jules' side of the family, she became an aunt to four children. Her oldest brother, Brendan and his wife, Cara welcomed Killian Alexander just a few months before her official, and final, return to New York City. They soon continued their ever-growing family with Sloane Andrew's birth in October of 2006.

With her middle brother, Patrick and his wife, Hannah becoming parents in 2005 and 2006 to Anya Lucille and Sage Juliette, Jules and the youngest male Fallon son began to feel left out of the fun.

Jules had tried her hardest to make sure she remained without a child when she got married, knowing the sheer thought of an out-of-wedlock grandchild would cause her mother to have a conniption. If her relationship with her mother wasn't already tattered enough, she didn't want the extra criticism that Abigail was known for just 'tossing out there'.

Whether it was a piercing, or a tattoo, or the choice to move to New Hampshire based on her hockey scholarship, her mother always had to have the last word. The day Jules came home with her first tattoo, the word "breathe." on the inside of her right foot, her mother almost disowned her. Though the first set of holes in Jules' earlobes was her mother's doing when she was just a baby, the other eight piercings in her ears almost sent her mother over the edge.

Now, at thirty, her mother still gave her hell over the ten tattoos and eleven piercings marking her daughter's body. Even as Jules explained the Gaelic writing and the two sets of Roman numerals on her lower back meant the absolute world to her because they were for Aiden, her mother would just lift her nose and walk away. The piece was the two dates in a Roman-esque font, while the phrase was written in script between the dates.

Flack became a big fan of the ink. While he only had a Celtic cross on his right shoulder blade, he loved the tattoos on Jules' body. From the cherries at the back of her left foot - a drunken night in Las Vegas with Lindsay Monroe ended in matching tattoos - to the shamrock with his badge number on her bikini line or the Celtic diamond at the base of her neck, he thought every piece was perfection on her tanned skin. His personal favorite was the nautical star on the back of her left leg that he loved to view while she would walk around the apartment in panties and a camisole.

He would even admit he liked the outline of a star on the cartilage of her right ear. When he asked what she was thinking when she got that one done, she just smiled and shrugged. "_It seemed lonely over there. I have the industrial piercing on my left ear, and this one was feeling left out._" With a smirk, he pulled her into his arms and laughed.

Jules' favorite was probably the claddagh on left wrist, with beading around her wrist to make it look like the beads of a rosary. The tattoo was designed after her grandmother's rosary, that had a claddagh in the center of the cross.

As the doors opened on the thirty-fifth floor, Jules darted towards the Tox lab to find Danny. She found the blonde Staten Island native hunched over a microscope and paying no attention to her arrival. "What's up, Danny?"

His head turned in her direction. "You got here pretty quick."

She shrugged. "I was on my way out of autopsy," she replied as she walked towards the table he was working on. "What did you find out?"

"Before Sid sent up the trace from her hair, I had Adam help me figure out her stomach contents. It's all seafood."

Jules placed the plastic container holding the bullet on the table and crossed her arms. "That's not really specific, Danny. This _is _New York City. We have more than twenty thousand restaurants."

"Yeah, yeah. I know that, wise ass," he said before shaking his head at the petite woman. "This combination is pretty specific, though. Alaskan King Crab, lobster, some mac'n'cheese, and oysters. Know where I'm goin' with this?"

The shorter blonde smirked. "City Seafood."

Danny nodded. "Exactly. Figure we can pop in there, see if anyone saw our vic there last night," he rambled off. Anjuli nodded. "What'd the doc give you?" he asked, referring to the container.

Her eyes lit up. "Just a little engagement present." She lifted the container to show off the trace evidence inside. "Some trace collected in Georgia Everett's neck wound. Sid had no idea what it was, and left that all up to me to figure out." Jules sighed and rested against the counter. "This guy was good, Danny. Way too good."

"Maybe," Danny began, "but we're just better."

Jules nodded. "Lemme just go lock this baby up and we'll head to City Seafood. Meet you at the elevators in five?" Danny nodded in response as Jules began to leave the lab. "And I'm driving, Messer!" she exclaimed before exiting.

xXx

"So, that was completely useless," Jules huffed as she rested against the passenger side door after leaving the restaurant. Pulling her Crime Lab jacket closer to her body, she tried to fight off the cold. "'Did you see this woman last night?' 'Yep.' 'Was she with someone?' 'Yep.' 'Did you happen to see the person she was with?' 'Nope.'" Jules just shook her head as she restated the previous conversation. "I mean seriously, could he have been more of a pain in my ass? We're trying to solve a murder before _another_ one happens, and that guy is in there being a serious douche bag!" The blonde placed her head back against the window as Danny stood in front of her, his arms crossed over his chest.

"I knew I hated that place for a reason," he said, bringing a simple smirk to Jules' face. "I know you do - you hate seafood." She nodded. "But the one time I brought Linds here, our waiter was a complete prick. He was a total asshole to Montana, and we both know I don't bode well with anyone doin' that. So I said something to him; he threatened to get us thrown out. No biggie - the food sucks anyways."

Jules just rolled her eyes. "Good story, Dann-o." He smirked as she pushed him in the direction of the front of the car. "Can you please unlock the doors?" His eyebrow raised as he pursed his lips. "Daniel, can you _please_ open the doors. It's freezing out here."

He laughed. "I thought _you_ wanted to drive," he offered.

"Nah. You don't want me to drive while I'm this pissed out."

Danny just shrugged and unlocked the doors to the SUV before treading towards the other side of the vehicle. With the two inside and the heat on, Jules ran a hand through her hair. "J, just calm down. It was a bad lead. A pretty shitty one at that; but we've had those before."

She nodded and nibbled on her lower lip. "I know, Danny. It's just… we could be looking at another body this time tomorrow. I really don't want to."

"Yeah, but that's how this job works sometimes," he said before pulling the vehicle out into traffic. "And this may make me seem like an insensitive bastard…"

"Probably 'cause you are," Jules added, only to receive a glare from the driver.

He then rolled his eyes and offered a small smile. "But if we have to wait for another body for more dirt on the perp, I'm game for that."

Jules only shrugged. "You know I've never been good at cases of younger people. I mean, she was only twenty-four," the blonde offered before licking her lips. "She had her entire life before her."

"Most of the victims we find are the same, Jules. Just getting ready to start their lives.."

She cut him off, "Did you know she just started working at St. Vinny's? Or that she has five younger siblings; the youngest of which is only seven. How do you explain to them that their sister was murdered?"

Placing a comforting hand on her leg, Danny shrugged. "The way we always do," he offered. "We do it all the time, J. Does it suck?" He nodded. "Absolutely. Every single time." He shook his head before continuing his thought. "But maybe we can get this family some closure. Or some justice when we find this guy."

Jules only hoped he was right. That her death would not be in vain. While she had no idea if the twenty-four year old nurse died at the hands of someone she knew or a perfect stranger, Anjuli had no intention of leaving a single leaf unturned.

When she had her mind set to finding a murderer, she was known for getting her man.

xXx


End file.
